Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Afghanistan: An Overview

Shanghai Cooperation Organization became a permanent international organization when a new member Uzbekistan joined it in 2001. This group has eight permanent members; China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India. In the initial years the raison d'etre of the group was to resolve border issues between China and the Central Asian Republics, which emerged after the disintegration of USSR. All the border issues were settled among these states, and thus the scope of the organization has shifted towards security collaboration such as non-traditional security challenges, i.e. terrorism, extremism, separatism, organized crimes and narcotic control. It is indeed pertinent to mention here that the leadership of China and Russia were keen in maintaining the internal security as the most imperative challenge. In this connection emphasis was to address the threat of the so-called 'three evils: terrorism, extremism and separatism. This article will analyze the role of SCO in Afghanistan imbroglio since the formation of this organization.